Abington Heights and Delaware Valley have similarities that stretch far beyond their less than exciting uniforms.

Their success on the field, and the way they have approached building the programs, have both playing this weekend in the postseason.

Abington Heights will face Allentown Central Catholic on Saturday at 1 p.m. at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium in the PIAA Class AAA playoffs, while Delaware Valley will be hosting Parkland, also Saturday at 1 p.m., in the District 2-11 Class AAAA subregional final.

Beginning in the late 1990s and continuing into the 2000s, Abington Heights has been a model of consistency. It's a credit to the inner-workings and stability of coach Joe Repshis and his staff that works tirelessly on scouting and formulating a game plan that gives them the best shot of winning even if they appear out-manned.

That's the blue-print Delaware Valley coach Keith Olsommer has also taken. As he constructed his program from the depths of irrelevance, his goal was to reach a level where it could not only contend and build a rivalry with Abington Heights, but also to win and conquer.

Weight training is vital to any high school football team. Not that they have any kind of magical potion, but what Repshis and Olsommer do is make sure that they are up to date on the latest, most innovative and most productive programs.

In addition they encourage their athletes to be well-rounded. There are many names on both rosters who excel either in wrestling, basketball, baseball or track and field. They agree, that taking a break from football at least for some time is effective in keeping the players enthusiastic about the physically demanding sport.

Both teams have certain luxuries that they use to their advantage better than anybody else. Because they have larger enrollments and they have winning programs, they boast rosters with good participation. Delaware Valley has 73 players and Abington Heights has 62.

They are able to rotate players and keep their very best ready to go at optimum levels. And more importantly, having so many players offers them the opportunity to man their special teams with up-and-coming talent and get quality looks in practice from the scout team.

Winning a lot of games also has helped.

Abington Heights is the standard among the big schools in the Lackawanna Football Conference. Repshis has continued the tradition at a school that has won eight Division I titles and now seven District 2 championships since 1998.

Olsommer took over a program and changed the culture with his ambitious goal to catch the soaring Comets on a year-to-year basis. Establishing its program in 1992, the Warriors went 6-77 in its first eight seasons.

It's been a remarkable - but expected - turnaround for the Class AAAA school. Delaware Valley won its first LFC Division I title in 2004, its first District 2 Class AAAA crown this season and has been a consistent qualifier for the postseason.

Because of their yearly playoff battles and at times struggles against teams from outside of District 2, both Repshis and Olsommer live by the same philosophy to schedule strong opponents in their scrimmages and nonleague schedule.

Abington Heights has forged relationships with District 11 and District 1 teams that have helped them see and learn to play at a much faster speed.

Delaware Valley has been somewhat of a traveling road show, heading to Florida and Massachusetts to challenge and beat some of the top teams in the country. But it's lack of success against District 11 forced Olsommer to start scrimmaging those teams in the preseason.

Both programs have benefitted greatly by accepting and facing greater challenges rather than concern themselves with playoff points.

This season, Delaware Valley defeated Parkland and Whitehall in two wild games against traditional Lehigh Valley Conference powers. Abington Heights has always played against Hazleton Area and Wyoming Valley West early in the season, and this season added Class AAA power Dallas.

Along the way too, they have developed a rivalry between themselves. One that offers a trophy each season as a reward much like the many college programs have that they are trying to emulate.

Abington Heights and Delaware Valley are two thriving football programs.

They pattern themselves after college teams, they work hard in the offseason, they make the commitment in season.

This year, clearly, they have proven to be among the very best in the east.

That is a credit to the players, coaches and communities that keep raising the expectations each and every season.

JOBY FAWCETT covers high school football for The Times-Tribune. Contact him at jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com or on Twitter @JobyFawcett26.

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